


Back to normal

by killerweasel



Series: A Change Can Do You Good [2]
Category: Angel: the Series, Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-30
Updated: 2013-01-30
Packaged: 2017-11-27 14:33:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/663093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killerweasel/pseuds/killerweasel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nothing ever goes as planned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Back to normal

Title: Back to normal  
Fandom: _Angel/Sherlock_  
Characters: Lindsey McDonald, John Watson, Sherlock Holmes  
Word Count: 1388  
Rating: PG-13  
A/N: AU after _Sherlock's The Reichenbach Fall_ and _Angel's Not Fade Away_  
Warnings: n/a  
Summary: Nothing ever goes as planned.

I knocked before I entered because I knew that Sherlock’s friend was more than just a little unnerved by what had happened. He gave me a nervous smile as I walked across the room. “Your landlady let me in. She seemed a bit upset.”

“You must be Lindsey.” I nodded. “Mycroft told me you were short and American. He also said you knew far more about this whole thing than he did. Somehow I don’t think that’s exactly true. I’m John Watson.”

He motioned for me to follow him. “Mycroft called me after what happened. I have to assume he has cameras or listening devices in the flat again.” John paused outside of a door. “I managed to get Sherlock onto the bed. I’ve never seen anything like this and I have no idea what to do to help him.”

John went into the room first. I could see Sherlock’s unconscious form resting on the covers of the bed. His normally green and black skin had turned grey. Moving closer, I reached out and very gently touched Sherlock’s hand. He didn’t even stir. “There isn’t anything you can do right now, John. He’s going to shed his skin and by this time tomorrow, he should be up and moving again.”

“Shed his skin? As in the same way a snake or a lizard does?” John stared at Sherlock for a moment. “Why would he suddenly do that now?”

“He hasn’t been a demon for very long. Sometimes if a newly changed person is under a great deal of stress, their body reacts in ways it normally wouldn’t. Drazils shed maybe twice a year at the most. It shouldn’t have happened for another few months.” I shrugged. “It doesn’t hurt. It just looks weird.”

“When I got back from the store, Sherlock was standing in the middle of the room. He was talking to Mrs. Hudson and she was giving him a hug. He was making his typical ‘make this stop soon’ face and then he saw me. He looked like he normally did, minus the hair.”

John touched Sherlock’s cheek. “At first I thought it was just another dream, you know? I was surprised, then overjoyed, and then I became incredibly angry. It’s been a year and a half. I saw him die. He jumped off the roof in front of me, Lindsey. Now here he was, just standing there like nothing had happened, like everything was the way it had been before.”

He went quiet for a moment. “I was so angry at him. I remember I shouted things. The next thing I knew, I’d punched him in the face and he... changed. Mrs. Hudson fainted.” John closed his eyes. “Sherlock looked so lost. He kept staring at the blood on his hand that he’d swiped from his nose. Then his eyes rolled up in his head and he collapsed. I couldn’t make him wake up.”

That would certainly be more than enough stress for his body to go into overload. “If you want, I can stay here until he wakes up. There shouldn’t be any complications though.”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but what are you?” John stared at me for a moment before focusing on Sherlock again. “You actually stopped breathing a few times when you weren’t speaking.”

“Do you want the long answer or the short one?”

“I don’t know if I could handle the longer one right now.” He sat down on the bed next to Sherlock. “I’m still a bit confused by the whole ‘Sherlock is now a demon’ thing.”

There was a chair at the far end of the room. After grabbing it, I set it near the bed. I sat down and slipped my jacket off. “I’ll get to the demon thing in a minute. You wanted the short answer, so here it is.” When I removed my shirt, John sucked in a breath at the position of the scars from the gunshots. “I died in Los Angles a while ago. With some very dark magic, my old bosses brought my body back to torture. I can heal from any injury and I heal at three times the rate of a human. I’m not a zombie. I’m something else.”

John blinked at me a few times. “That’s different.”

I pulled my shirt back on and then told him about what had happened in Paris with the drazils. While John didn’t interrupt me, he did look like he really wanted to say something. “After we took care of Moran, Sherlock asked me if I wanted to come back to London. I figured I could use a change of scenery. Besides, I know some people who live here that I haven’t seen in a while.”

“Sherlock had a chance to stay human and he decided against it?” John shook his head. “Why would he do that?”

“He said something about it being the ‘next logical step’ because not only is he faster and stronger than he was as a human, his other senses are heightened. It might come in handy working on cases.”

“Ah.”John muttered something that sounded like ‘crazy git’ as he rubbed his temples. “He looked normal and then he changed. What was that?”

“Drazils have a chameleon ability. They can maintain a different outward appearance, but it if they lose their concentration, it vanishes.” It was actually a pretty neat ability. “He could basically make himself look like anyone if he wanted to; though I understand hair is trickier.”

“He’s taller than he was, which I have to assume is from being a demon.” John looked Sherlock over. “He has claws and fangs. That’s going to take some getting used to. The scales were nice on him. They suited him. His eyes though, those were amazing. A mate of mine had a gecko and its eyes looked just like Sherlock’s.”

“Outwardly, he’s different. He’s still the same inside.” I gave John a grin. “I thought I was the most stubborn man in the universe until I had to work with him.”

John laughed. “You have no idea.” He shook his head. “He’s alive, Lindsey. He’s really here. I’d hoped that it was all some kind of a trick, that he wouldn’t have done something like that without good reason.”

We sat in silence for a few minutes. John kept touching Sherlock on the arm or the face, as if constantly needing to make sure this was all really happening. He sat up a little straighter. “I’m being a terrible host. Did you want something to drink? Tea? Coffee? Wait. If you’re undead, do you even need to eat?”

“Other than the lack of heartbeat and the need to breathe, I seem to operate the same way I always did. Coffee would be fine. I’ll come with you.”

I walked with him towards the kitchen. “I did go back and check out your blog once I got to London. Sherlock said you wrote up all the cases. I’m glad you left everything where people could read it.”

“I wanted people to read it for themselves and come to their own conclusion about his being a fake.” John leaned back against the counter. “You’ve seen him do it, haven’t you? Just take a look at something and know everything about it? Something like that can’t be faked.”

“He knew more about me in a matter of minutes than the firm’s mind readers did.” I took the cup of coffee from John. “He’s the real deal.”

“He’s brilliant.”

“He did mention one case you hadn’t put on the blog. Something about a missing squirrel and an emerald?”

John choked on his coffee. “He told you about that one? I bet he left out all the good parts. You see, this kid showed up at the doorstep and he was very concerned about a missing squirrel. Of course, Sherlock was his usual self and tried to chase the kid out of the flat. The kid wrapped himself around Sherlock’s leg and hung on for dear life. I thought Sherlock’s head was going to explode.”

There was a smile on my face as John continued to speak. The longer he talked, the more life seemed to return to his body. His friend was alive and home. Everything would soon be back to normal.


End file.
